City where the heat is on.

Good morning, friends. I spent last week on the beautiful shores of MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA. It was a pretty prime vacation spot, with tons of hotels, nice cars, rich people, and hot weather. I think the thing that kept us most busy was just sitting somewhere having a drink and watching people and cars. That may not entertain YOU, but trust me, it was gooooooood times.

Here are some of my astute observations on Miami:

- It seems to be the case that it is legal, or else just 'okay' in everyone's eyes, to get a drink from a bar, and then just walk around on the streets with it. They usually serve mixed drinks and beer in plastic cups (think those red plastic ones from all your university keggers, only clear instead). If you feel like parading yourself around instead of sitting at the bar, you can just pick up and leave and keep on drinking. It was really odd... reminded me a bit of my year in Namibia, where it's legal to drink anywhere you want, even in a moving car.

- The cars in Miami Beach are ridiculous. SO MANY PEOPLE had mustangs, lambourghinis, jaguars, beamers, etc etc etc. And a lot of vintage convertibles. The "cool thing to do" is to just cruise up and down Ocean Drive slowly in your nice car and hope that as many people as possible will notice.

- A huge percentage of the people there are runners. Out on the beach in the morning or the evening, you would see swarms of people running in packs, and also some flying solo. This was okay with me, but what really got my goat was when people would be running in the middle of the day. The heat was super oppressive and it was really humid, which was conducive to sitting around drinking, or swimming. That's IT. Some people would jog by at like noon, just dripping sweat and about to keel over. I just don't like seeing this. It's like torturing yourself!

- An odd contrast to the number of runners was the number of pizza places. Probably every other shop along the major streets was a pizza place. I don't really get this, because most of the non-caucasians there seemed to be from either Mexico or Haiti, countries which I didn't think were huge on pizza. It was comforting and satisfying though to see so many pizza places, and gave me a vision of what Toronto could look like one day if we get our priorities straight.

- There were two other types of shops besides pizza places, and one was tattoo parlours. I think I counted 4 tattoo shops on one block at one point. Pretty much everyone, guys and girls alike, seemed to be heavily tattooed. An interesting trend, but understandable, because it seems that the main goal of people there was to show as much skin as possible. Showing skin on its own maybe gets kind of boring (???) so they get tattooed to give other people something else to look at.

- Restaurants in Miami Beach could be counted on for HUGE portions, including epic drink sizes - like daquiris larger than a baby's head. There were always lots of drink specials going on, and our hotel even gave us free drinks from 7-8 every night. The huge portions of food also didn't really jive with the fact that a lot of people there are ridiculously skinny, but who am I to question these things? Mom and I usually just shared one meal between the two of us which worked out well. Oh and I also got carded several times when ordering drinks, which got annoying after awhile. (Restaurant side note: We also saw a guy order an entire bottle of red wine and a dish of pasta at 10 am.)

- This list would not be complete without sharing with you Miami Beach's biggest obsession: ED HARDY. The store windows were dripping in rhinestones and emo-esque phrases splashed onto shirts and shoes. SOOO many people, even moms, were wearing Ed Hardy crap constantly. I do NOT get it - Ed Hardy seems pretty tacky to me, and it's overpriced. Plus it's become synonomous with sleazeball Jon Gosselin. Please explain to me why this brand is so popular. Am I getting too old to understand??

ME AGAIN.

I guess fall has brought with it not only cooler weather, lots of wind, and the early musings of Halloween, but also more motivation for me to express my thoughts with the handful of folk who enjoy this WEBLOG.

I know you're wondering how the fantasy hockey draft went. I felt pretty solid about my picks and just hope to high heaven that my players do okay. I feel like I've done a heck load of research so far, so I think it's just a matter of sitting back and waiting to see how things go. I also feel like, in my effort to be more connected to the other side of the gender dome at work, I may have inadvertantly distanced myself from the ladies there. I HOPE NOT!! Geez.

Here's a quote for you by someone called Tom Stoppard, who claims to be a british playwright: "Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art." I gotta admit that I kind of agree with him. Our city's in a tizzy about the upcoming Nuit Blanche right now, and confession: I turned down, somewhat rudely actually, an invitation to be part of an exhibit/music thing there. I didn't think the exhibit/music thing was a horrible idea, but it was pretty bad. I have a really hard time appreciating Nuit Blanche, and modern art in general. I'm really not sure why. I mean, I had a fairly cultured childhood. Our parents took us travelling often, my mom took me to see the symphony and theatre, my dad took me to hockey games (ok not a good example of my cultured childhood, but anyways), we learned other languages, I took music lessons and dance lessons and drama lessons, etc etc etc. So WHY do I have next to zero appreciation for modern art? I'd actually like to figure this out, because I truly don't get it. I'm thinking maybe it has something to do with the whole "open to interpretation" thing. With good writing, for example, a group of leaders in the field could all look at one piece of fiction and generally come to a consensus that it is GOOD. This would never, ever happen with a piece of modern art. Maybe I just like standards and parameters? I don't know. I don't actually know how or why so many people are into things like Nuit Blanche. Maybe they just like the chance to stay out all night and wander the streets with crowds. Admittedly, it's a good atmosphere. But after attending last year, I concluded that I "just don't get art."

Tonight I played my piano a bit and realized I'm really out of practice!! I miss the times when I was in a band. I felt like such a rock star.

Here's an excerpt from an email I wrote to a friend on July 25, 2004. Apparently I had a lot of fun back then:

on friday, mary and i left for port rowan. we went to my grandparents' house on friday night, and then saturday, got up early and started the day. we had a really busy day and it was just perfect.... such good weather, so many fun times... went to garage sales, to a provincial conservation historic area, and to a beach. in the evening after dinner we left for a campground and spent hours gathering the perfect firewood and then building a massive bonfire and poking at it with sticks. SO much fun!! slept in a tent and then today went out for lunch with my grandparents before driving back here. we stopped a lot along the way to take pictures of roadkill. it was truly the greatest weekend i've had all summer....

Another taste of the good life.

It's Sunday Afternoon, the most boring time of the entire week. Not in a bad way though, because you're free to do whatever the heck you want! It's just hard to mobilize friends into an actual activity though, so I mostly end up hangin' in my apartment and being cool. Right now I've got some cookies baking that will PROBABLY turn out crappy because I didn't exactly use a recipe, just threw some stuff together. I also have SCALLOPED POTATOES (including ham, cheese, and onions) in the crock pot. Hooooooooly crap, can't wait til that stuff is done. The trick is to wait til it's cooled off though, for obvious reasons.

I'm listening to this right now - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_FhEL1JL2Y - pretty catchy stuff by Little Boots. I saw her in concert a couple weeks ago and it was a good time, although being a heterosexual female, I was totally a minority at the bar. That seems to happen whenever I go to shows that feature a hot chick as the lead singer. WHAT GIVES?

Tried to take a nap earlier and it didn't even work. Got a solid 9+ hours last night, so even the idea of napping was pretty ridiculous, but I like to take advantage of every sleep-op possible. (Cookie update: they turned out! I'm eating one right now. Get yourself over here if you want one!)

And now, for a non-exhaustive list of things I'm into these days:

- Olives

- Ridiculously high-energy dance music, useful for "pumping yourself up" while trying to get ready for work when you're still really tired. eg. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uDixD4tXXU

- Recliners

- Loafers

- Candles (best part of FALL!)

- socks

- Thinking about whether to chop all my hair off (opinions??)

- Pizza - not really eating it, but thinking about it and hoping for good pizza. It's so, so, SO hard to find good pizza lately! Please recommend some if you know of really good gooey pizza.

- McDonald's (I'm actually always into McDonald's)

- Not quite getting motivated to start running again

- Setting aside the mixed drink joviality of the summer and getting back into solid wines

There you have it. Tonight's the draft for the hockey pool at work, which the guys have GRACIOUSLY allowed me to be a part of this year. I'm kind of scared since my hockey player knowledge, while semi-decent, isn't as good as it should be. But let's face facts: I'm good at contests, I'm delightful, I do know quite a bit about the sport of hockey in general, and I'm the ONLY girl in the pool. So these things should work for me and not against me. I hope. Cross you them fingers.

For my 3 loyal fans.

ANNNNNND, I'm back! Today was the "working from home" experiment/extravaganza '09 . I thought I'd hate it: being the life of the party (well, in this case, the life of the office) is not a feat easily achieved whilst sitting in my tiny apartment wearing sweatpants. But I really enjoyed the freedom, and the chance to do things like make tomato soup, not put makeup on, wear pink socks, listen to trance music, and open up the windows to let a cool breeze blow through the room. These things would never have been possible at the office. Except for wearing pink socks, but still.

Quick food update for those of you interested: haven't really had anything too noteworthy lately, although I did hit up one of my fave sushi/korean combos, Hosu, on Sunday after churchy church. Unfortunately I ordered too much food... easy to do at those places. You order one dish but then they bring all this extra stuff like soup, salad, and tiny bowls of spicy stuff. It's so yummy and filling! I went the extra mile and ordered a side order of glass noodles, and pretty much filled up on those, so I had to bring the cali rolls and maki home. Don't worry, I polished 'em off at dinnertime in my recliner.

Today's food hasn't been as yummy or as filling. Breakfast saw me heading to the local java joe's for some craptastic "java" and a crummy excuse for a muffin. It was the kind that crumbles into bits as soon as you look at it. Pfffffffffffff LAME MUFFINS AT JAVA JOE'S!!!! At lunch I made Campbell's Tomato Soup, one of my fave childhood treats. Unfortunately there's no bread here so I couldn't have a grilled cheese sandwich. I finished off the meal with a couple of frozen chocolate chip cookies. I keep 'em in the freezer. Got hungry again a few hours later and made some sweet potato fries, which were okay, but really, who am I kidding? They taste a thousand times better at the local pub.

And now, a list of things that are a TOTAL WASTE OF MONEY that I regularly spend money on:

- Magazines. Ok, I don't really buy them too often, because I have a subscription to Toronto Life and that's all you really need. But sometimes I'm suckered in by the glossy covers of Marie Claire or Glamour. They always only provide about 10 minutes of entertainment, have pointless articles, and just make me wish I had more money to buy all the clothes gracing the pages.

- Coffee from the Second Cup. This is now part of my budget. I officially spend $40 per month on Second Cup coffee. Some would say this is a waste. I could probably get away with spending about $10 per month if I made my own coffee. But folks- life is about enjoyment. Would I enjoy making my own disguistoid coffee and carrying it to work on the subway? HELLS NO.

- Books. Ok - NOT a pointless purchase. But I could just as easily go to the library, right? Thing is, I'm somewhat obsessed with bookstores, and with the new book smell. I just don't get as much pleasure from a library book with sticky germs all over it as I do from a brand new book that is ALL MINE!!!! BWA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAA!!!

Okay. So, that's it. Who wants to play board games with me? Also, I'm taking a week off soon and my plans "fell through" as they say so... I NEED SOME PLANS post haste. Disneyworld, anyone? (P.s. I'm serious.)

Supposedly it's "summer".

Hello lackies. I used to watch the show Street Cents, and Ken Pompadour would always greet his followers that way. CBC had some real gems back in the day. I was quite the fan of Jonovision (hosted by Jonathan Torrens) and his music shows, featuring the Coveted Golden Ear as first prize. Prestigious.

Good 90's tv aside, let's discuss more important matters: embarassing moments. Here are a few of mine that I remember. If they're not that good, let's keep in mind that there are probably WAY worse ones that have just been blocked out of my mind completely.

- In Namibia a few years ago, some locals wanted me to try eating a mopane worm. They collect these caterpillars from trees and fry 'em up, and everyone loves them and eats them constantly. I put one in my mouth and couldn't handle the rubbery consistency, and immediately spit it out onto the floor. I tried to laugh it off but was actually super embarassed that I couldn't even eat a worm.

- When I was about 16, I was in a fabric store with my mom and we split up to look around. I think I was looking for fabric for new curtains for my room or something. After walking around for a bit, I went and stood next to her and said, "Well, you know which ones I like." And she turned to me and said, "Pardon me?" Turned out it WASN'T MY MOM. Same jacket though.

- I can't think of any more.

Ok, weak, I know. I guess I don't have too many embarassing moments that haven't been blocked out by my stellar cranium. So - share yours.

Cumulus, Cirrus, Stratus.

In the title of today's entry you'll find the names of three cloud types. I know these (and others) because as a geeky teen, I owned dozens of "zany" t-shirts designed to convey the message that I was unique and cool, and one of them named the types of clouds along with diagrams of them. Instead of standing out, I probably just blended ever so nicely into the mosaic of teens all trying to be unique and cool. Besides the cloud shirt, I also had one with a mosquito biting someone's arm and getting filled up with blood, and one that said "Neighbors from Hell" with a picture of demons moving into a house.

And now, from the inquisitive mind of Cara A. Pauls.... things I don't understand:

- Why is it that humans, myself included, always seem to want to have something to look forward to in life? It's almost impossible for us to move forward and get out of bed if we don't have something that we're anticipating.

- Why do human reproductive hormones kick in at such a disgusting and awkward time of life?

- Why do things get dusty so often?

- Why is there no middle ground with certain things - I mean, why are there things that people either love or hate? No ambivalence for these things... eg. cilantro, poetry, watching surgery on tv, roller coasters

- Why is it so hard to change certain aspects of one's personality? How can one go from loving their personality one day to being really annoyed with it the next?

- Why has summer been so cold this year?

- Why do people that are "religious" have the hardest time accepting other people?

Ok, that's enough of a glimpse into my brain for today. Let's go back to the lighter side and talk about current entertainment options. The highly-anticipated movie Bruno premieres this week, featuring Sacha Baron Cohen as a gay Austrian fashion designer... this movie looks ridiculous but I'll probably see it because Bruno looks eerily similar to a friend/coworker of mine. Summerlicious is also happening right now, which I hope to be able to check out. Games night is also in the works, which I couldn't be more excited about!!!!! There are about a thousand other things I'd like to do this summer. Who's with me?

Post-Canada Day... how do you feel?

Hey guys. I didn't really celebrate our nation's 142nd birthday very well.... I was at WORK!!!! It was incredibly horrible for the first couple hours but then things calmed down.

Some facts about life right now:

- I have a persistent cough lingering from last week's virus, and it is SO ANNOYING AND LOUD. I think everyone I work with probably wants to puncture my lungs with a harpoon in order to stop listening to it.

- A few recent factors have me thinking about veganism lately. I'm going to do some more research. Keep in mind that I'm not big on being friendly to animals, but the idea that you can actually prevent diseases by changing your eating habits really appeals to me. I may have to concoct my own unique brand of veganism though that would still allow me to eat organic/free range meat every now and then. I'll keep you guys posted on the developments.

- The garbage strike is ongoing on Toronto and it's getting just plain DISGUSTING. I feel like I'm living in some underdeveloped country with no infrastructure. I'm hitting up St. Catharines for a couple days this weekend, and I'm sure the Garden City will not disappoint.

- I'm caring less and less about the Blue Jays.

- People are feeling this weird, tired, Monday-type vibe today because yesterday was a holiday. So I'm glad I worked yesterday, thus avoiding the sluggish after-weekend feeling and being able to truly enjoy my Thursday.

- All this Michael Jackson hype is pretty interesting. As usual, the media is making dead people out to be saints, of the type that do no wrong. Clearly Michael Jackson was a musical genius, but he was also a total freak. Let's not forget that he had a disturbed childhood and was a tortured soul who made bad decisions and probably shouldn't have had custody of his kids. I just want our perspectives to be balanced, ok?